The Royal Tantra on the Brilliant Diffusion of Majestic Space - Paperback

by Christopher Wilkinson (Translator), Christopher Wilkinson (Author)

The Great Perfection, also known as the Atiyoga or Dzogchen (rDzogs chen), is a tradition of esoteric Buddhism that upholds instantaneous enlightenment. The literature of the Great Perfection has been divided up into three groups or sections: The Mind Section (Sems sde), the Space Section (kLong sde), and the Upadesha Instruction Section (Man ngag sde). The Royal Tantra on the Brilliant Diffusion of Majestic Space is the King of the Space Section Tantras, and is here translated in full for the first time. The Space Section transmission is known as the Vajra Bridge (rDo rje zam pa). It is said that Vairochana, a famous translator who was active during the Eighth Century of the Common Era, received the texts and instructions for the Space Section from his teacher Sri Singha, and then passed them down to his student Mipham Gonpo. It is said that for five generations of this lineage every master achieved a rainbow body at the time of his passing away.

Author Biography

Christopher Wilkinson began his career in Buddhist literature at the age of fifteen, taking refuge vows from his guru Dezhung Rinpoche. In that same year he began formal study of Tibetan language at the University of Washington under Geshe Ngawang Nornang and Turrell Wylie. He became a Buddhist monk, for three years, at the age of eighteen, living in the home of Dezhung Rinpoche while he continued his studies at the University of Washington. He graduated in 1980 with a B.A. degree in Asian Languages and Literature and another B.A. degree in Comparative Religion (College Honors, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa). After a two year tour of Buddhist pilgrimage sites throughout Asia he worked in refugee resettlement programs for five years in Seattle, Washington. He then proceeded to the University of Calgary for an M.A. in Buddhist Studies where he wrote a groundbreaking thesis on the Yangti transmission of the Great Perfection tradition titled "Clear Meaning: Studies on a Thirteenth Century rDzog chen Tantra." He proceeded to work on a critical edition of the Sanskrit text of the 20,000 line Perfection of Wisdom in Berkeley, California, followed by an intensive study of Burmese language in Hawaii. In 1990 he began three years' service as a visiting professor in English Literature in Sulawesi, Indonesia, exploring the remnants of the ancient Sri Vijaya Empire there. He worked as a research fellow for the Shelly and Donald Rubin Foundation for several years, playing a part in the early development of the Rubin Museum of Art. In the years that followed he became a Research Fellow at the Centre de Recherches sur les Civilisations de l'Asie Orientale, Coll鑒e de France, and taught at the University of Calgary as an Adjunct Professor for five years. He has currently published sixteen volumes of translations of Tibetan literature, and is currently engaged in further translations of classic Buddhist literature.